The
Yoga Vasishtha
Maharamayana
of Valmiki
The only complete English translation is
by Vihari Lala Mitra (1891).
CHAPTER LXXXXVII.
THE MAGNITUDE OF THE SPHERE OF THE INTELLECT.
Argument. The Intellectual, Mental and
Material Spheres, and
their representations in the Mind.
Rāma said:—I come to understand, O venerable
sage! from all you have
propounded, that this grandeur of the
universe being the work of the
Divine Mind, is all derived from the same.
(Here the creation of the
world by the Divine mind, is viewed in the
pantheistic light of
Emanation).
2. Vasishtha answered:—The Mind as already
said, having assumed a
substantial form, manifested itself in the
form of water in the mirage,
raised by the shining blaze of its own light.
(This passage embodies
both theories, that light was the first work
of God, and the Spirit of
God moved on the surface of the waters. O ruh Eloim marhapeth-fi pene
al maim. Genesis. Apa eva Sasarjādan. Manu).
3. The mind became amalgamated (identic),
with the contents of the
world, in the Spirit of Brahmā, now showing
itself in the form of man,
and now appearing as a God (i. e. the mind reflected on these images
which were evolution of itself in itself;
because the thought or product
of the mind, was of the same substance with
itself. This accords with
the pantheistic doctrine, that God and Nature
are one substance, and the
one is a modification of the other).
4. Somewhere he showed himself as a demon and
at another place like a
yaksha (yakka); here he was as a Gandharva, and there in the form of
a Kinnarā. (All these were the ideal manifestations of the Divine
Mind).
5. The vast expanse of the Mind, was found to
comprise in it the various
tracts of land; and the pictures of many
cities and habitable places.
(Because the mind is the reservoir of all
their images).
6. Such being the capacity of the mind, there
is no reckoning of the
millions of bodies, which are contained in
it, like the woods and plants
in a forest. All those are not worth our
consideration in our inquiry
about the mind. (They are as useless to the
psychologist as botany is to
the geologist).
7. It was this mind which spread out the
world with all its contents,
beside which there exists naught but the
Supreme Spirit. (The mind is
the container of the archetypes of the
ectypal world, or the recording
power of knowledge; but the Supreme Soul is
the disembodied
self-consciousness, having the principle of
volition or Will; while the
Spirit is the animating faculty of the soul).
8. The soul is beyond every category, it is
omnipresent and the
substratum of all existence, and it is by the
power of this soul, that
the mind doth move and manifest itself. (The
mind is the soul
incorporated with bodies; but the soul is
quite apart from these).
9. The Mind is known as the cause of the
body, which is work of the
mind; it is born and becomes extinct with the
body, which the soul does
not, nor has it any such quality which
belongs to the mind.
10. The mind is found by right reasoning to
be a perishable object, and
no sooner doth it perish, than the living soul
succeeds to obtain its
final liberation. For the desires of the mind
are the bondage of its
transmigration, but the dissolution of the
mind with its desires,
secures its liberation. (Volition and
velleity, are the active and
inactive acts of the mind for its eternal
bondage).
11. After decadence of the mental desires
there is no more any exertion
for acts. This state is called the liberation
of living souls, from
their release from trouble and care; and the
mind thus released, never
comes to be born and die again. (Free from
desire, is freedom from
deadly sin).
12. Rāma said:—Sir! You have said before,
that human nature is
principally of three kinds viz:—the good, the
gentle and the base
(Satva, rajas and tamas); and it is owing to the good or bad
nature of their minds, that men differ from
one another.
13. Now please tell me, how could the
wondrous mind originate from the
pure intellect with its good or bad
propensities, which are wanting in
the Divine Intellect.
14. Vasishtha replied:—Know Rāma, that there
are three spheres of the
infinite vacuity, at immense distances from
one another: and these are
the intellectual, mental, and the physical
spheres.
15. These spheres are common to all mankind,
and are spread out
everywhere; and they have all sprung and come
to being from the essence
of the Chit or Divine Intellect. (The first is the space of Divine
Infinity, the second is the spatium dunamia or potential space and may
be filled by bodies; and the third is the
place energeia or actually
occupied by bodies).
16. That space which is both in the inside
and outside of everything,
and denotes its occupation or otherwise by
some substance or its
absence, and pervades through all nature, is
called the inane sphere of
the Intellect.
17. That is called the sphere of the
Intellect, which embraces all space
and time which has spread out the other
spheres, and which is the
highest and best of all.
18. The physical sphere contains all created
beings, and extends to the
circuit of the ten sides, all about and above
and below us. It is a
continued space filled with air, which
supports the clouds and waters
above the firmament.
19. Then the vacuity of the mental sphere,
which has also sprung from
the intellectual sphere, has likewise the
intellect for its cause like
the others, as the day is the source of all
works and animal activities.
(Here the word works has the double sense of
the works of creation,
which were made in the week days, and the
daily works of men and their
religious duties, all which are done in the
day time. The night being
the time to sleep).
20. The vitiated Intellect which views itself
as a dull thing, amidst
the gross material objects of the physical
sphere, the same is termed
the mind, which thinks of both spheres,
whence it is born and where it
is placed.
21. It is for the understanding of the
unenlightened, that I have made
use of the metaphor of the spheres; because
figures are used for the
instruction of the unenlightened and not to
lighten the enlightened.
(These serve for ocular demonstrations in
mathematical and not in
metaphysical sciences).
22. In the intellectual sphere, you will see
one Supreme Brahma, filling
its whole space, and being without parts or
attributes, and intelligible
only to the enlightened.
23. The ignorant require to be instructed in
appropriate words and
precise language, showing the demarkation
between monotheism and
ditheism, which is unnecessary for the
instruction of the enlightened.
24. I have contrived to explain to you the
nature of divine knowledge,
by the parable of the three spheres, which
will enlighten you as long as
you are in dark on the subject.
25. The intellectual sphere being obscured by
ignorance, we are led to
look into the mental and physical spheres;
not knowing that they are as
delusive as the sunbeams in a mirage, and as
destructive as the flames
of a conflagration.
26. The pure intellect being changed to the
state of the changeful mind,
takes a debased figure; and then being
confounded in itself, weaves the
magic web of the world to entangle itself in
the same.
27. The ignorant that are guided by the
dictates of their perverted
minds, know nothing concerning the nature of
the Intellect, which is
identic with the Supreme. So the witless that
unwittingly take the white
shells for bright silver, are seen to labour
under their delusion, until
they are freed from it, by the clear light of
their understanding.[11]
[11] The allegory of the three spheres, means
no more than the triple
state of man, as a spiritual, an intellectual
and a physical or
corporeal being. The intellectual state in
the text, is properly the
spiritual and highest state of a human being.
The mental is next to the
intellectual or midmost state of man, and the
physical or corporeal
state, is the lowest condition, in which the
elevated nature of humanity
is subjected like an inferior animal, to
grovel upon the earth.
CHAPTER LXXXXVIII.
HISTORY OF THE HUMAN HEART.
Argument. The wide extent of the Heart and
its ultimate
Dissolution.
Whatever may be the origin and nature of the
human heart (which some
take for the mind), it should be always
inquired into in seeking out
one's own liberation. (The heart called antahkarana—an inner organ,
is often supposed as the same with the mind;
its cravings after
worldliness, are to be suppressed under its
longing for liberation from
worldly cares).
2. The heart being fixed in the Supreme,
becomes purified of its worldly
desires and attachments; and then O Rāma! it
perceives that soul in
itself, which transcends all imaginations of
the mind. (Kalpanās are
imaginary attributes of God in the mind; who
can only be seen in the
heart).
3. It is the province of the heart, to secure
the sedateness of the
world in itself; and it lies in the power of
the heart, either to make
its bondage or get its freedom, from the
desires and troubles of the
world.
4. On this subject there hangs a curious tale
relating the legend of the
heart, which was revealed to me of yore by
Brahmā himself; and which I
will now relate to you Rāma, if you will
listen to it with attention.
5. There is a long, open and dreary desert
Rāmātavī by name; which was
quite still and solitary and without an
inhabitant, in it; and so vast
in its extent, as to make a pace of a league
of it. (Or rather to make a
league of a pace of it).
6. There stood a man of a terrific and
gigantic figure in it, with a
sorrowful visage and troubled mind, and
having a thousand arms and a
thousand eyes.
7. He held many clubs and maces in all his
manifold arms, with which he
was striking his own back and breast, and
then running away in this
direction and that (as if for fear of being
caught by some one).
8. Then having struck himself fast and hard
with his own hands, he fled
afar a hundred leagues for fear of being laid
hold by some body.
9. Thus striking and crying and flying afar
on all sides, he became
tired and spent, and lank in his legs and
arms.
10. He fell flat with his languid limbs in a
large blind pit, amidst the
deep gloom of a dark night, and in the depth
of a dire dark cave (from
which he could not rise).
11. After the lapse of a long time, he
scrambled out of the pit with
difficulty; and again continued to run away,
and strike himself with his
own hands as before.
12. He ran again a great way, till at last he
fell upon a thorny thicket
of Karanja plants, which caught him as fast in its brambles, as a
moth
or grasshopper is caught in a flame.
13. He with much difficulty extricated
himself from the prickles of the
Karanja furze; and began again to beat himself as before, and run
in
his wonted course as usual.
14. Having then gone a great way off from
that place, he got to a grove
of plantain arbour under the cooling
moonbeams, where he sat for a while
with a smiling countenance.
15. Having then come out of the plantain
grove, he went on running and
beating himself in his usual way.
16. Going again a great way in his hurriness,
he fell down again in a
great and darksome ditch, by being exhausted
in all his limbs and his
whole body.
17. Rising from the ditch, he entered a
plantain forest, and coming out
from that spot, he fell into another ditch
and then in another Karanja
thicket.
18. Thus he was falling into one ditch after
rising from a thorny furze,
and repeatedly beating himself and crying in
secret.
19. I beheld him going on in this way for a
long time, and then I with
all my force, rushed forward and stopped him
in his way.
20. I asked him saying:—Who are you Sir, and
why do you act in this
manner? What business have you in this place,
and why do you wail and
trouble yourself for nothing?
21. Being thus asked by me, O Rāma! he
answered me saying:—I am no
body, O sage! nor do I do any such thing as
you are telling me about.
22. I am here stricken by you, and you are my
greatest enemy; I am here
beheld and persecuted by you, both to my
great sorrow and delight.
23. Saying so, he looked sorrowfully into his
bruised body and limbs,
and then cried aloud and wept a flood of
tears, which fell like a shower
of rain on the forest ground.
24. After a short while he ceased from his
weeping, and then looking at
his limbs, he laughed and cried aloud in his
mirth.
25. After his laughter and loud shouts were
over, hear, O Rāma! what the
man next did before me. He began to tear off
and separate the members of
his big body, and cast them away on all
sides.
26. He first let fall his big head, and then
his arms, and afterwards
his breast and then his belly also.
27. Thus the man having severed the parts of
his body one after another,
was now ready to remove himself elsewhere
with his legs only, by the
decree of his destiny.
28. After he had gone, there appeared another
man to my sight, of the
same form and figure with the former one, and
striking his body himself
as the other.
29. He kept running with his big legs and
outstretched stout arms, until
he fell into the pit, whence he rose again,
and betook to his flight as
before.
30. He fell into a pond again, and then rose
and ran with his body
wringing with pain; falling again in hidden
caves, and then resorting to
the cooling shade of forest trees.
31. Now ailing and now regaling, and now
torturing himself with his own
hands; and in this way I saw him for sometime
with horror and surprise
in myself.
32. I stopped him in his course, and asked
about what he was doing; to
which he returned his crying and laughter for
his answers by turns.
33. Finding at last his body and limbs
decaying in their strength, he
thought upon the power of destiny, and the
state of human lot, and was
prepared to depart.
34. I came again to see another succeeding
him in the same desert path,
who had been flying and torturing himself in
the same way as the others
gone before him.
35. He fell in the same dark pit in his
flight, where I stood long to
witness his sad and fearful plight.
36. Finding this wretched man not rising
above the pit for a long time,
I advanced to raise him up, when I saw
another man following his
footsteps.
37. Seeing him of the same form, and
hastening to his impending fall in
the doleful pit, I ran to stop his fate, by
the same query I made to the
others before.
38. But O lotus-eyed Rāma! the man paid no
heed to my question and only
said, you must be a fool to know nothing of
me.
39. You wicked Brāhman! he said to me, and
went on in his course; while
I kept wandering in that dreadful desert in
my own way.
40. I saw many such men coming one after the
other to their unavoidable
ruin, and though I addressed to all and every
one of them, yet they
softly glided away by me, like phantoms in a
dream.
41. Some of them gave no heed to my saying,
as a man pays no attention
to a dead body; and some among the pit-fallen
had the good fortune of
rising again.
42. Some among these had no egress from the
plantain grove for a long
while, and some were lost forever, amidst the
thorns and thistles of
Karanja thickets.
43. There were some pious persons among them,
that had no place for
their abode; though that great desert was so
very extensive as I have
told you already (and capable of affording
habitations for all and many
more of them).
44. This vast desert is still in existence,
together with these sorts of
men therein; and that place is well known to
you, Rāma, as the common
range of mankind. Don't you remember it now,
with all the culture of
your mind from your early youth?
45. O that dreadful desert is this world,
filled with thorns and dangers
on all sides. It is a dark desert amidst a
thick spread darkness, and no
body that comes herein, finds the peace and
quiet of his heart, except
such as have acquired the divine knowledge,
which makes it a rose garden
to them. (See the pit-falls in the bridge of Addison's The Vision of
Mirza).
CHAPTER LXXXXIX.
HISTORY OF THE HEART CONTINUED.
Argument. Explanation of the preceding
Allegory.
Rāma said:—What is that great desert, Sir,
and when was it seen by me,
and how came it to be known to me? What were
those men there, and what
were they about?
2. Vasishtha replied:—Attend O great-armed
Rāma! and I will tell you
all:—
That great desert is not distant nor
different from this wilderness of
the world.
3. That which bears the name of the world, is
a deep and dark abyss in
itself. Its hollowness is unfathomable and
unfordable; and its unreality
appearing as reality to the ignorant, is to
be known as the great desert
spoken of before.
4. The true reality is obtainable by the
light of reason only, and by
the knowledge of one object alone. This one
is full without its union
with any other, it is one and only by itself.
5. The big bodied men, that you beheld
wandering therein, know them to
be the minds of men, and bound to the
miseries of the world.
6. Their observer was Reason personified in
myself, and it was I only
and no other person, that could discern the
folly of their minds by my
guiding reason.
7. It is my business to awaken those drowsy
minds to the light of
reason, as it is the work of the sun to open
the lotus-buds to bloom, by
his enlivening rays.
8. My counsels have prevailed on some minds
and hearts, which have
received them with attention; and have turned
them away from earthly
broils, to the way of true contentment and
tranquillity.
9. But there were others that paid no
attention to my lectures through
their great ignorance; but fell down into the
pit, upon being chid by me
with reproofs and rebukes.
10. Those deep and dark pits were no other
than the pits of hell and the
plantain groves of which I have told you,
were the gardens of Paradise.
11. Know these to be the seats of those minds
which long for heavenly
joys, and the dark pits to be the abode of
hellish hearts, which can
never get their release from those darksome
dungeons.
12. Those who having once entered the
plantain grove, do not come out
any more from it; know them to be the minds
of the virtuous, and fraught
with all their virtues.
13. Those which having fallen into the Karanja thickets, were unable
to extricate themselves from the thorns; know
them to be the minds of
men, that are entangled in the snares of the
world.
14. Some minds which were enlightened with
the knowledge of truth, got
released from the snares; but the
unenlightened are bound to repeated
transmigrations in different births.
15. The souls which are subjected to
metempsychosis, have their rise and
fall in repetition, from higher to lower births,
and the vice-versa
likewise.
16. The thick thicket of Karanja brambles, represents the bonds of
conjugal and family relations; they are the
source of various human
desires, which are springs of all other woe,
difficulty and dangers.
17. The minds that have been confined in the Karanja bushes are those,
that are repeatedly born in human bodies, and
are repeatedly entangled
into domestic attachments from which all
other animals are quite at
large.
18. O support of Raghu's race! the plantain
grove which I told you was
cooling with moonbeams; know the same to be
the refreshing arbour of
heaven, which gives delight to the soul.
19. Those persons are placed here, who have
their bodies fraught with
virtuous deeds and edified by persevering
devotion and austerities, and
whose souls are elevated above others.
20. Those ignorant, thoughtless and unmindful
men, that slighted my
advice, were themselves slighted by their own
minds, which were deprived
of the knowledge of their own souls and of
their reason.
21. Those who told me, "we are undone at
your sight, and you are our
greatest enemy"; were demented fools,
and melting away with their
lamentations (for having disregarded my
counsels).
22. Those who were loudly wailing, and let
fall a flood of tears in
their weeping; were men who bitterly deplored
in their minds for being
snatched from the snare of pleasures, to
which they had been so fondly
attached.
23. Those having a little sense and reason,
but not arriving to the pure
knowledge of God; were bitterly complaining
in their hearts, for being
obliged to forsake their fond enjoyments of
life.
24. Those who came to their understanding,
now wept over the pains which
they had inflicted on their bodies, for the
supportance of their
families; and were grieved in their minds to
leave behind the objects of
their care, for whom they had taken such
pains.
25. The minds that had some light of reason,
and had not yet arrived to
divine knowledge, were still sorrowing for
having to leave behind their
own bodies, wherein they had their late
abode.
26. Those who smiled in the cheerfulness of
their hearts, were men who
had come to the light of reason; and it was
their reason which gave
consolation to their hearts.
27. The reasonable soul that is removed from
its bondage of the world,
exults with joy in its mind, to find itself
liberated from the cares of
life.
28. Those men who laughed to scorn their
battered and shattered bodies,
were glad to think in their minds, how they
got rid of the confines of
their bodies and limbs, the accomplices of
their actions.
29. Those who laughed with scorn to see the
falling members of their
bodies, were glad to think in their minds,
that they were no better than
instruments to their various labours in the
world.
30. Those who had come to the light of
reason, and had found their rest
in the supreme state of felicity, looked down
with scorn upon the former
abodes of their meanness from a distance.
31. The man who was stopped by me on his way
and asked with concern
(about what he was going to do); was made to
understand how the power of
wisdom could outbrave the desperate.
32. The weakened limbs, that gradually
disappeared from sight, meant the
subjection of the members of the body, under
the control of the mind,
that is freed from its venality of riches.
33. The man that is represented with a
thousand arms and eyes, is a
symbol of the covetous mind, which looks to
and longs after everything,
and wants to grasp all things, as with so
many hands. (The ambition of
Alexander is described to count the spheres,
and grasp the earth and
heaven in his arms).
34. The man that was striking himself with
his blows, meant the torments
which a man inflicts on his own mind, by the
strokes of his anxieties
and cares.
35. The man who had been running away with
striking hard blows upon his
body, signified how the mind runs all about,
being lashed at every
moment by the strokes of his insatiate
desires.
36. The man that afflicts himself by his own
desires, and then flies to
this way and that, signifies his
fool-heartedness to hunt after
everything, and be a runaway from himself.
37. Thus every man being harassed by his
ceaseless desires, pants in his
mind to fly to his Maker, and set his heart
to yoga meditation.
38. All these ceaseless woes are the making
of one's own mind, which
being worried at last by its incessant
anxieties, strives to retire from
them, to find its final repose in yoga.
39. The mind is entrapped in the net of its
own wishes, as the silk worm
is entwined in the cocoon by the thread of
its own making.
40. The more is the mind of man afflicted by
troubles, the more busily
is it employed in its foibles; just as a boy
indulges himself in his
playfulness, unmindful of the evils waiting
upon it.
41. The mind of man is in the same plight as
that of the foolish ape,
which in striving to pull out the peg of a
half split timber, lost its
life by the smashing of its testes in the
crevice. (See the story of the
ape and its pulling the peg in the Hitopadesa
and its Persian version of
the Anvarsoheli).
42. No flight can release the mind, unless it
is practised to
resignation, restrained from its other
pursuits, and constrained to the
continued practice of pious meditation, which
can only relieve its
sorrows.
43. It is the misjudgement of the mind, that
is the cause of accumulated
woes, which increase in height as the peak of
a mount; so it is the
government of the mind which melts our woes,
like the hoarfrost under
sunbeams.
44. Accustom your mind to the righteous ways
pointed out by the sāstras
in all your life time. Restrain your
appetites, and govern your
passions, and observe the taciturnity of holy
saints and sages. You will
at last arrive to the holy state of holies,
and rest under the cooling
umbrage of holiness, and shall no more have
to grieve under the
calamities which betide all mankind.
CHAPTER C.
HEALING OF THE HEART.
Argument. Arguing the Omnipotence of the
Deity from the powers
of the mind; and showing ignorance and
knowledge to be the
different causes of Human bondage and
liberation in life.
Vasishtha continued:—I have told you of the
origination of the mind
from the essence of the Supreme being; it is
of the same kind, and yet
not the same with its source, but like the
waves and waters of the sea.
(The mind being but an attribute of the
Divine soul).
2. The minds of the enlightened are not
different from the Divine Mind;
as those that have the knowledge of the
community of waters, do not
regard the waves to differ from the waters of
the sea.
3. The minds of the unenlightened are the
causes of their error, as
those not knowing the common property of
water, find a difference in the
waters of the waves and the sea.
4. It is requisite for the instruction of the
unlearned, to acquaint
them of the relation between the significant
words and their
significations (as the relation of water
between the waves and the sea).
5. The Supreme Brahmā is omnipotent, and is
full and perfect and
undecaying for ever. The mind has not the
properties that belong to the
omnipresent soul.
6. The Lord is almighty and omnipresent, and
distributes his all
diffusive power, in proportion as he pleases
to every one he likes.
7. Observe Rāma, how the intellectual powers
are distributed in all
animated bodies (in their due proportion);
and how his moving force is
spread in the air, and his immobility rests
in the rocks and stones.
8. His power of fluidity is deposited in the
water, and his power of
inflammation is exhibited in fire; his
vacuity is manifested in vacuum,
and his substantiality in all solid
substances.
9. The omnipotence of Brahmā, is seen to
stretch itself to all the ten
sides of the universe; his power of
annihilation is seen in the
extinction of beings; and his punishment is
evident, in the sorrows of
the miserable.
10. His felicity is felt in the hearts of the
holy, and his prowess is
seen in the persons of giants; his creative
power is known in the works
of his creation, and his power of destruction
in the desolation of the
world, at the end of the great Kalpa age.
11. Everything is situated in Brahmā, as the
tree is contained in the
seed of the same kind, and afterwards
developes in its roots and
sprouts, its leaves and branches, and finally
in its flowers and fruits.
12. The power called the living principle, is
a reflexion of God, and is
of a nature between the thinking mind and
dull matter, and is derived
from Brahmā.
13. The nature of God is unchangeable,
although it is usual to attribute
many varieties to him; as we call the same
vegetable by the different
names of a germ, a sprout, a shrub, a plant
and a tree at its different
stages of growth.
14. Know Rāma, the whole world to be Brahmā,
who is otherwise termed the
Ego. He is the all pervading soul, and the
everlasting stupendous fabric
of the cosmos.
15. That property in him which has the power of
thinking, is termed the
mind; which appears to be something other
than the Soul, thus we
erroneously see peacock's feathers in the
sky, and froths in the eddies
of water (and suppose them as different
things from the sky and water).
16. The principles of thought and
animation—the mind and life, are but
partial reflexions of the Divine Soul; and
the form of mind is the
faculty of thought, as that of life is the
power of animation. (The one
is called the rational and the other
animating soul).
17. Thus the mind being but the thinking
power of Brahmā, receives the
appellation of Brahmā; and this power
appearing as a part of the
impersonal Brahma, is identified with Ego
(the personal Brahmā).
18. It is our error which makes a difference
between the soul and mind,
and Brahma and Brahmā; because the properties
which belong to the mind,
are the same with those of the self-existent
soul.
19. That which is variously named as the
principle of mind or thought,
is the same power of omnipotence which is
settled in the mind (which is
the repository of the thinking powers).
20. So are all the properties of the living
soul, contained in and
derived from the universal soul of Brahmā; as
all the properties of
vegetation, blossoming and fructification of
trees, are contained in the
season of spring, and are dispensed among the
plants, agreeably to their
respective soil and climate, and other
circumstances (of their culture
&c.).
21. As the earth yields its various fruits
and flowers in their season,
so the hearts and minds of men, entertain
their thoughts and passions in
their proper times: some appearing at one
time and others at another:
(like the paddies and other grains of
particular seasons).
22. And as the earth produces its harvests,
according to their
particular soil and season; so the heart and
mind exhibit their thoughts
and feelings of their own accord, and not
caused by another.
23. The numbers and forms which convey
determinate ideas, as
distinguished from others of the same kind
(as the figures in arithmetic
and geometry), are all expressed in words
coined by the mind from the
mint of the mind of Brahmā, the original
source of ideas.
24. The mind adopts the same image as the
reflexions which it receives
from without, or the thoughts and
imaginations it forms of itself, and
as the instance of the Aindava brothers,
serves to support this truth:
(of the double power of intuition and
perception of the mind, to see
into its own inner operations, and receive
the impressions from
without).
25. The animating principle (jīva-zoa), which
is the cause of this
creation, resides in the Supreme Spirit, like
the fluctuation which is
seen in the unagitated waters of the oceans.
26. The intelligent soul sees these hosts of
creation to be moving in
the essence of Brahmā, as he beholds the
innumerable waves, billows and
surges of the sea, rolling on the surface of
the waters.
27. There is no other reality that bears a
name or form or figure or any
action or motion except the supreme spirit;
in which all things move
about as the waves of the sea water (and
which is the real source of the
unreals).
28. As the rising and falling and
continuation and disappearance of
waves, occur on the surface of the sea by the
fluctuation of its waters;
so the creation, sustentation and
annihilation of the universe, take
place in Brahmā, by the agency of Brahmā
himself.
29. It is by the inward heat of his spirit,
that Brahmā causes this
world to appear as a mirage in himself; and
whatever varieties it
presents in its various scenes, they are all
expansions and
manifestations of the Divine Spirit.
30. All causality and instrumentality, and
their resultants as well as
the production, continuance and destruction
of all things; take place in
Brahmā himself; beside which there is no
other cause whatever.
31. There is no appetence nor pleasure, nor
any desire or error in him,
who relies his dependence in the Supreme; for
how can one have any
desire or error in himself who lives in the
Supreme self, who is devoid
of them?
32. The whole is a form of the Supreme soul,
and all things are but
forms of the same; and the mind also is a
form of it, as a golden
ornament is but a form of the gold.
33. The mind which is ignorant of its Supreme
origin, is called the
living soul; which from its ignorance of the
Supreme soul, resembles a
friend who has alienated himself from his
true friend.
34. The mind which is misled by its ignorance
of the all-intelligent
God, to imagine its own personality as a
reality; is as one who believes
his living soul to be the production of
vacuum (or as something produced
from nothing).
35. The living soul although it is a particle
of the Supreme soul, shows
itself in this world as no soul at all (but a
form of mere physical
vitality). So the purblind see two moons in
the sky, and are unable to
distinguish the true moon from the false one.
36. So the soul being the only real entity,
it is improper to speak of
its bondage and liberation; and the
imputation of error to it, is quite
absurd in the sight of lexicographers, who
define it as infallible.
37. It is a wrong impression to speak of the
bondage of the soul, which
is ever free from bonds; and so it is untrue
to seek the emancipation of
the soul, which is always emancipate.
38. Rāma asked:—The mind is known sometimes
to arrive at a certainty,
which is changed to uncertainty at another;
how then do you say that the
mind is not under the bondage of error?
39. Vasishtha answered:—It is a false conceit
of the ignorant to
imagine its bondage; and their imagination of
its emancipation, is
equally a false conception of theirs.
40. It is ignorance of the smriti sāstra, that causes one to believe
in his bondage and emancipation; while in
reality there are no such
things as bondage and liberation.
41. Imagination represents an unreality as
reality, even to men of
enlightened understandings; as a rope
presents the appearance of a snake
even to the wise.
42. The wise man knows no bondage or
liberation, nor any error of any
kind: all these three are only in the
conceptions of the ignorant.
43. At first the mind and then its bondage
and liberation, and
afterwards its creation of the unsubstantial
material world, are all but
fabulous inventions that have come into vogue
among men, as the story of
the boy of old (or as the old grand-mother's
tale).
Note—The conclusion of this chapter
concerning the negation of bondage
and liberation of the soul, and its error and
enlightenment &c., rests
on the text of a Sruti; which negates
everything in the sight of one who
has come to the light of the universal soul.
The passage is:—
[Sanskrit: na nirodho nacotpattih na [...] |
[...] paramārthatāh |]
CHAPTER CI.
STORY OF THE BOY AND THREE PRINCES.
(An Allegory of the Hindu Triads).
Argument. The old Nurse's tale of the three
Princes or Powers
of the Soul, in elucidation of the
Fabrications of
Imagination.
Rāma said:—Relate to me, O chief of sages!
the tale of the boy, in
illustration of the Mind (and the other
principles of our intellectual
nature).
2. Vasishtha replied:—Hear me Rāma, tell you
the tale of a silly and
jolt-headed boy, who once asked his nurse, to
recite to him some pretty
story for his amusement.
3. The Nurse then began to relate her fine
wrought story for the
pleasure of the boy, with a gladsome
countenance, and in accents sweet
as honey.
4. There were once on a time, some three
highminded and fortunate young
princes; in a desolate country, who were
noted for their virtues and
valour. (The three princes were the three
hypostases of the holy
trinity, dwelling in the land of inexistence
or vacuity, asat-pure.
I. e. these triple powers were in being in empty space, which
is
co-eternal with them).
5. They shone in that vast desolate land
resembling the spacious sky,
like stars in the expanse of the waters
below. Two of them were
unbegotten and increate, and third was not
born of the mother's womb.
(These three uncreated princes, were the
principles of the soul and the
mind, and the living soul—jīva, which is not
procreated in the womb
with the body).
6. It happened once on a time, that these
three, started together from
their dreary abode (of vacuum), for the
purpose of finding a better
habitation somewhere else. They had no other
companion with them, and
were sorrowful in their minds, and
melancholic in their countenances; as
if they were transported from their native
country. (This means the
emigration of these principles, from the
eternal and inane sphere of
Brahmā, to the mundane world of mortality,
which was very painful to
them).
7. Having come out of that desert land, they
set forth with their faces
looking forward; and proceeded onward like
the three planets Mercury,
Venus and Jupiter in their conjunction.
8. Their bodies which were as delicate as Sirīsha flowers, were
scorched by the powerful sun shining on their
backs; and they were dried
like leaves of trees by the heat of the
summer day on their way (i. e.
their tender spiritual bodies melted under
the heat of the solar world).
9. Their lotus like feet were singed by the
burning sands of their
desert path, and they cried aloud like some
tender fawns, going astray
from their herd saying:—"O Father save
us". (The alienated soul and
mind, which are doomed to rove about in this
world are subjected to
endless pains, causing them to cry out like
the tormented spirit of our
Lord:—Eli Eli Lama Sabachthani;—Lord, Lord,
hast thou forsaken me?).
10. The soles of their feet were bruised by
the blades of grass, and the
joints of their bodies, were weakened by the
heat of the sun; while
their fair forms were covered with dust
flying from the ground on their
lonesome journey. (Their pilgrimage in the
thorny and sunny paths of the
world of woes).
11. They saw the clump of a leash of trees by
the way side, which were
braided with tufts of spikes upon them, and
loaded with fruits and
flowers hanging downward; while they formed a
resort for flights of the
fowls of air, and flocks of the fauna; of the
desert, resting both above
and around them. (The copse of the three trees,
means the triple states
of dharma, artha and Kāma, or virtue, wealth and their fruition,
which are sought after by all).
12. The two first of these trees did not grow
of themselves (but were
reared by men); and the third which was easy
of ascent, bore no seeds to
produce other plants in future (i. e. virtue and wealth require to
thrive by cultivation, and enjoyment which is
delectable to taste, is
not productive of any future good or reward).
13. They were refreshed from the fatigue of
their journey, under the
shade of these trees; and they halted there
like the three Deities
Indra, Vāya and Yama, under the umbrage of
the Pārijāta arbour of
Paradise. (The three gods—Jupiter, Eolus and Pluto,
were the regents of
the three regions of heaven, sky and the
infernal world:—swar,
bhuvar and bhur,
composing the three spheres of their circuit).
14. They eat the ambrosial fruits of these
trees; and drank their
nectarious juice to their fill; and after
decorating themselves with
guluncha chaplets, they retook themselves to their journey (i. e.
the intellectual powers are supported by the
fruits of their acts in
their journey through life).
15. Having gone a long way, they met at the
mid-day a confluence of
three rivers, running with its rapid currents
and swelling waves. (The
three streams are the three qualities of satva, rajas and tamas or
of goodness, mediocrity and excess, which are
commingled in all the acts
of mankind).
16. One of these was a dry channel and the
other two were shallow and
with little water in them; and they looked
like the eyes of blind men
with their blinded eye-balls (i. e. the channel of satva or
temperance was almost dried up, and that of rajas or mediocrity had
become shallow for want of righteous deeds;
but the stream of tamas or
excess was in full force, owing to the
unrighteous conduct of men).
17. The princes who were wet with
perspiration, bathed joyfully in the
almost dried up channel; as when the three
gods Brahmā, Vishnu and Siva
lave their sweating limbs, in the limpid
stream of Ganges. (The three
powers of the soul, like the three persons of
the Purānic trinity, were
respectively possessed of the three qualities
of action; and yet their
pure natures preferred to bathe in the pure
stream of goodness—satva,
as in the holy waters of heavenly Gangā—the hallowed Mandākinī).
18. They sported a long while in the water,
and drank some draughts of
the same, which was as sweet as milk, and
cheered their spirits with
full satisfaction of their hearts (meaning
that satwika or good
conduct is sweeter far to the soul, than any
other done as unjust or
showy—rajas or tamas).
19. They resumed their journey, and arrived
at the end of the day and
about sunset, to their future abode of a
new-built city, standing afar
as on the height of a hill. (This new-built
city was the new-made earth;
to which the spirits descended from their
Empyrean).
20. There were rows of flags fluttering like
lotuses, in the limpid lake
of the azure sky; and the loud noise of the
songs of the citizens was
heard at a distance.
21. Here they saw three beautiful and goodly
looking houses, with
turrets of gold and gems shining afar, like
peaks of mount Meru under
the blazing sun. (These were the human
bodies, standing and walking
upright upon the earth, and decorated with
crowns and coronets on their
heads).
22. Two of these were not the works of art,
and the third was without
its foundation; and the three princes entered
at last into the last of
these. (The two first were the bodies of men
in their states of sleep
and deep sleep, called swāpa sopor or swapnas-somnus and
sushupti-hupnos or hypnotes, which are inborn in the soul; but it is
the jāgrata or waking body which is the unstable work of art).
23. They entered this house, and sat and
walked about in it with joyous
countenances; and chanced to get three pots
as bright as gold therein.
(These pots were the three sheaths of the
soul, mind and of the vital
principle, called the prānamāyā-kosha).
24. The two first broke into pieces upon
their lifting, and the third
was reduced to dust at its touch. The far
sighted princes however, took
up the dust and made a new pot therewith? It
means, that though these
sheaths are as volatile as air, yet it is
possible to employ the vital
principle to action.
25. Then these gluttonous princes cooked in
it a large quantity of corn
for their food; amounting to a hundred dronas minus one, for
subsistence of their whole life-time. (It
means that the whole life-time
of a hundred years, allotted to man in the
present age of the world, is
employed in consuming so many measures of
food, except perhaps one
Drona, which is saved by his occasional fasts during his long
life).
26. The princes then invited three Brāhmans
(childhood, youth and age)
to the fare prepared by them, two of whom
(childhood and youth) were
bodiless; and the third (i. e. old age) had no mouth wherewith to eat.
27. The mouthless Brāhman took a hundred
dronas of the rice and eat it
up, because he devoured the child and youth,
and the princes took the
remainder of the Brāhman's food for their
diet (which was nothing).
28. The three princes having refreshed
themselves with the relics of the
Brāhman's food; took their rest in the same
house of their next abode,
and then went out in their journey of hunting
after new abodes (or
repeated transmigrations).
29. Thus I have related to you, O Rāma! the
whole of the story of the
boy and princes; now consider well its
purport in your mind, and you
will become wise thereby.
30. After the nurse had finished her relation
of the pretty parable, the
boy seemed glad at what he had heard (though
it is plain without
understanding its import).
31. I have told you this story, O Rāma! in
connection with my lecture on
the subject of the mind; and it will serve to
explain to you, the
fabrication of the mind of this imaginary
being of the world.
32. This air-built castle of the world, which
has come to be taken for a
reality, is like the story of the body, but a
false fabrication of the
old nurse's imagination. (Or old
grand-mother's tale, and giving a name
and form to an airy nothing).
33. It is the representation of the various
thoughts and ideas of our
minds, which exhibit themselves to view,
according to the notions we
have of them in our states of bondage and
liberation (i. e. our
bondage to gross bodies, exhibits them in
their grosser form, and our
liberation from the materialistic, shows them
in their subtile and
immaterial shapes).
34. Nothing is really existent except the
creations of our imagination,
and it is our fancy which fashions all the
objects in their peculiar
fantastic forms. (Everything appears to us as
we fancy it to be; whereby
the same thing is viewed in a different
light, not only by different
persons; but by the same person in a
different state of mind).
35. The heavens, earth, sky and air, as also
the rivers, mountains and
the sides and quarters of the sky, are all
creations of our fancy, like
the visions in our dreams; which join and
disjoin and fashion the views
in their phantastic forms. (Imagination or
phantasy, is a faculty
representative of the phenomena of internal
or external worlds. Sir
William Hamilton).
36. As the princes, the rivers and the future
city, were mere creations
of the nurse's imagination, so the existence
of the visible world, is
but a production of the imaginative power of
man. (The nurse's
representations of the princes &c., were
rather the prosopopoeia or
personifications of her abstract thoughts; as
the material world is a
manifestation of the ideal, and called by the
sufis suwari manavi and
suwari zahiri).
37. The imaginative power manifests all
things all around, as the moving
waters, show the rise and fall of the waves
in the sea. "It gives a
shape of airy nothing". "It is the
power of apprehending ideas and
combining them into new forms and
assemblages".
38. It was this imaginative power of God,
which raised the ideas of
things in his omniscient and all
comprehensive soul; and these ideals
were afterwards manifested as real by his
omnipotence; just as things
lying in the dark are brought to view by the
light of the day.
(Imaginatio est rei corporae figuram
contemplari. Descartes and Addison.
It is a lively conception of the objects of sight.
Reid. It recalls the
ideas by its reproductive fancy, and combines
them by its productive
power).
39. Know hence, O Rāma! the whole universe to
be the net-work of
imagination, and your fancy to be the most
active power of the mind.
Therefore repress the thickening phantoms of
your fleeting fancy, and
obtain your tranquillity by your sole
reliance on the certainty of the
immutable soul of souls.
"Retire the world shut out,
imagination's airy wings repress; call thy
thoughts home &c."
Young's Night thoughts
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
( My
humble salutations to Brahmasri Sreemaan Vihari Lala Mitra ji for the
collection)
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